Method and apparatus for producing a finely divided protected spray of liquid

ABSTRACT

The method involved and the combination of a device for spraying a liquid binder and the like into a stream of fibers produced from molten slag by a rotating head and steam ring, at least tow devices being spaced around the rotating head, with their axes inclined toward the stream of fibers. Each device produces a central jet of gaseous fluid, such as steam, directed axially toward a liquid binder or the like supplied through a pipe generally transverse to the axis and having an arcuate inner end in adjacent but spaced position to the jet. An outer annulus of gaseous fluid, such as steam discharged from an annular series of holes, is directed generally coaxially with the central jet to surround the central jet and spray produced thereby and also increase the velocity of the spray as the spray steam expands. The annulus protects the spray from volatilization by heat in the environmental conditions of use.

Dec. 14, 1971 J. CORSENTINO 3,626,722

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING A FINELY DIVIDED PROTECTED SPRAY OF LIQUID Original Filed Oct. 18, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Fls. l

Fls. 2

Joseph Corsenf/no INVIiN'H )R,

Donald J. Corsenfino B y Ex 9 cu for V q/ ham";

.4 TTORNE Y5 1971 J. CORSENTINO 3,626,722

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING A FINELY DIVIDED PROTECTED SPRAY OF LIQUID Original Filed Oct. 18, 1965 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Joseph C orsenI/no INVIiN'I'UR. Donald J. Corsenrino 4 5 BY Executor 37 ATTORNEYS 3,626,722 METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING A FINELY DIVIDED PROTECTED SPRAY OF LIQUID Joseph Corsent'mo, deceased, late of Belton, Tex., by Donald J. Corsentino, executor, Temple, Tex., assignor to The Susquehanna Corporation Original application Oct. 18, 1965, Ser. No. 496,987. Divided and this application July 22, 1969, Ser. No. 845,123

Int. Cl. C03c 25/02 US. Cl. 65-6 5 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The method involved and the combination of a device for spraying a liquid binder and the like into a stream of fibers produced from molten slag by a rotating head and steam ring, at least two devices being spaced around the rotating head, with their axes inclined toward the stream of. fibers. Each device produces a central jet of gaseous fluid, such as steam, directed axially toward a liquid binder or the like supplied through a pipe generally transverse to the axis and having an arcuate inner end in adjacent but spaced position to the jet. An outer annulus of gaseous fluid, such as steam discharged from an annular series of holes, is directed generally coaxially with the central jet to surround the central jet and spray produced thereby and also increase the velocity of the spray as the spray stream expands. The annulus protects the spray from volatilization by heat in the environmental conditions of use.

This application is a division of the Joseph Corsentino copending application Ser. No. 496,987, filed Oct. 18, 1965 (now abandoned), of which application Ser. No. 880,160, filed Nov. 26, 1968, is a continuation-in-part.

This invention relates to apparatus for producing a finely divided spray of liquid, particularly useful in the application of a binder to fibers of an insulating material, such as rock wool. The apparatus of this invention is particularly adapted to produce a finely divided spray of a liquid, such as a binder, which is sprayed into a stream of fibers immediately after production thereof from a molten, inorganic mineral material, such as slag. Apparatus for producing the fibers may be constructed in any suitable manner, such as disclosed and claimed in the aforesaid application Ser. No. 496,987.

A binder has previously been sprayed onto a travelling stream of fibers, or even from the inside of a hollow stream or cone of fibers, by a blow cap or similar device, which depends upon the discharge of the liquid binder, under pressure, through an orifice or series of orifices. With such a blow cap or similar device, the liquid binder, if. given an adequate velocity to penetrate the stream of fiber adequately, is spotty in application, due to the size of the drops. If the orifices are sufliciently small to produce a fine mist, then the velocity of the mist is inadequate to penetrate the fiber stream satisfactorily, so that only the outer fibers of the stream are adequately coater. In either instance, the wastage of binder is considerable, in addition to the distribution being uneven. Thus, an object of this invention is to provide a novel binder spraying device which will overcome the disadvantages of the blow caps or similar devices previously used for spraying a binder into a travelling stream of fibers, such as mineral wool fibers.

In the production of fibers, such as rock wool, from molten slag, by the discharge of steam jets against mate- United States Patent 0 rial thrown outwardly from a rotating rotor onto which molten slag is dropped and the slag is thrown outwardly by centrifugal force, with the fibers being collected in a blanket on a perforate conveyor through which air is sucked and moving in a relatively large collection chamber, the most convenient place to distribute the binder into the fibers is adjacent the rotor, since afterward the fibers are floating downwardly in the collection chamber or deposited to varying degrees of depth, such as finally to a depth of several inches, on the conveyor. However, the temperature conditions adjacent the rotor are quite severe, as on the order of 2600" F., while the binder normally utilized will evaporate at a temperature considerably below that temperature. Thus, another object of this invention is to provide a spray device which will produce a finely divided spray which is nevertheless protected from environmental heat, so that loss by evaporation is minimized.

Other objects of this invention are to provide a novel spray device; to provide such a spray device which will effectively produce a finely divided liquid, as for distribution into a rapidly moving stream of fibers or the like; to provide a novel device for spraying a binder into a travelling stream of fibers; to provide such a binder spraying device which produces a mist or spray of binder moving at an adequate rate to mix with a travelling stream of fibers; to provide such a binder spraying device which is readily constructed and facile in use; and to provide such a spray device which is effective and reliable in operation.

Additional objects and the novel features of this invention will become apparent from the following description, taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a fragmentary side elevation of the upper rear portion of a mineral fiber producing apparatus, as shown in said application Ser. No. 496,987, with which the spray device of this invention is particularly adapted to be used;

FIG. 2 is a fragmentary front elevation, on an enlarged scale, of. a portion of the apparatus of FIG. 1, showing particularly a pair of spray devices constructed in accordance with this invention positioned at each side of a steam ring and above an entrance cone to a collection chamber, the upper end only of the cone being shown and in section;

FIG. 3 is a side elevation, on a further enlarged scale, of one of the spray devices of this invention;

FIG. 4 is an end elevation of. the spray device of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a longitudinal section, taken along line 5-5 of FIG. 3; and

FIG. 6 is a bottom plan view of the spray device of FIG. 3.

In the fiber producing apparatus with which the spray device of this invention is particularly adapted to be utilized, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a cupola 10 or other conventional type of. furnace is utilized to melt the slag or other material, the molten slag flowing from the notch of the cupola through a spout 12, from which the molten material is discharged into a trough 14, which directs the molten material against a rotating head 16, which may be saucer shaped, or may be constructed in the manner of the Joseph Corsentino Pat. Re. 25,306, and is mounted at the lower end of a hollow shaft 17. A steam ring 18, which has a greater diameter than the head 16, is positioned adjacent and above the head and is provided with a series of orifices in the bottom, for directing an annular series of steam jets downwardly about the head 16. Steam supplied to steam ring 18 will be discharged from the orifices in the direction of the arrows 19 of FIG. 2 and against the material travelling outwardly from the rotating head due to centrifugal force, thus eflectively aiding in the conversion of the molten material to fibers. The fibers are also blown downwardly by the steam jets, while air is pulled downwardly, along with the steam jets.

As the fibers move downwardly, a binder is sprayd into them, from a pair of spray devices D, constructed in accordance with this invention, mounted at each side of the head or in any other suitable position or positions, a preferred device being shown in FIGS. 3-6 and described later. The binder may be a mineral oil or an asphalt product, together with suitable additives, to facilitate the compression and packaging of the fibers. Slugs, which are larger masses of unfiberized slag, and shot, which are normally small bead-like, solid particles much heavier than the fibers and possibly produced from the tail ends of insufliciently attenuated fibers but breaking off therefrom, will tend to fly outwardly from the head, but many will be deflected by the stream jets but still continue in a generally outward rather than a downward direction. However, others will be deflected downwardly by the steam jets. The downwardly travelling stream of fibers enters a cone C, installed atop the rear end of a settling or collecting chamber (not shown), in which the fibers are collected on a conveyor. Cone C may have a conical inner wall 20 and a conical outer wall 21, connected at the top by a ring 22 and spaced apart, so that a cooling medium, such as water, may be circulated between the walls. As the stream of fibers moves downwardly to enter cone C, those slugs and shot which are not blown downwardly by the steam jets and therefore move outwardly, will impinge or fall upon a bafile 23, which may be inclined at a suitable angle to intersect cone C adjacent the lower end at the rear and adjacent the upper end at the front. The inclination of batfle 23, such as shown, is suflicient to cause slug and shot falling thereon to slide downwardly along the baflle and to the rear. The distance between the upper end of cone C and the lower edge of head 16 should be greater than the diameter of the head, such as slightly less than the diameter of the upper end of the cone. This distance should be adjusted carefully, so that substantially all of the fibers produced will enter cone C but as many slugs and shot as possible will fall outside the cone. Of course, this distance should also be suflicient to permit the binder to be sprayed by the devices D into the stream of downwardly travelling fibers.

The spray devices D, as in FIG. 2 and as indicated previously, are adapted to produce finely divided droplets or a mist of a suitable binder, normally initially in liquid form, with sufficient velocity to penetrate the stream of fibers. The spray devices D are conveniently placed at each side of the steam ring 18, at approximately the same level, to direct the high velocity mist into the travelling stream of fibers, the particles or droplets of the mist being sufliciently small to coat the fibers more evenly. The high velocity fiber mist is directed angularly to the axis of shaft 17, such as about 30, so that the mist will clear the head 16 but will penetrate and mingle with the fibers as they travel downwardly.

Although the fibers themselves are cooled through impingement by the steam jets discharged from the steam ring 18, and thus have a lower temperature than the slag, by the time the binder spray begins to intermingle with the fibers, the environmental conditions, in the area between the lower end of each device D and just below the head 16, is such that the possibility is great that the binder will be evaporated and therefore have insuflicient kinetic energy to penetrate adequately the stream of fibers. Such environmental conditions are produced primarly by the radiant heat emanating from the molten slag flowing from trough 14 into head 16 and the radiant heat emanating from the pool of molten slag rotating with the head 16, which heat is also reflected from the outside of shaft 17 and the underside of steam ring 18. Thus, in the area described above, the binder spray discharged from each device D is subjected to relatively intense heat.

In accordance with this invention, the liquid binder is first formed into a mist by a jet of stream and is then picked up by an additional jet or jets to insure that the mist has an adequate velocity. These additional steam jets preferably surround the subdividing jet, although other patterns might be utilized, while it may be found, in certain instances, that compressed air may be substituted for steam. Each of the spray devices D is similar in construction, a preferred form being shown in FIGS. 36, and includes a central steam conduit 30, conveniently threaded at each end for connection to a steam supply line, at the upper end, and a reducing bushing 31 at the lower end. Bushing 31 threads into the upper end of a nozzle 32, which flares outwardly toward its lower end and is provided with an inverted, conical partition 33 having a central orifice 34 which produces a jet of steam, dividing into minute droplets the binder which flows in liquid form through a supply pipe 35. Binder pipe 35 extends angularly through the wall of nozzle 32, the end thereof preferably being inclined at a slight angle away from a perpendicular to the axis of orifice 34. The inner end 36 of the binder pipe, as in FIG. 6, is preferably arcuately concave, so that the steam jet issuing from orifice 34 will clear the inner edge of pipe 35 but will impinge against the stream of liquid binder flowing from pipe 35. As will be evident, the pressure of liquid binder supplied to pipe 35 need not be high, since the pressure required is only that necessary to produce the desired rate of flow through the unrestricted end of pipe 35.

The droplets of the binder carried by the steam jet issuing from orifice 34 are picked up by the given additional velocity by an annular series of steam jets issuing from small orifices 37, conveniently drilled in an outwardly extending flange 38 at the lower end of nozzle 32. The steam issuing from orifices 37 is supplied from steam conduit 30 by a pair of angular, branch pipes 40 and 41 which are connected, as by welding, at their upper ends to conduit 30 at a hole 42 in each side of the conduit 30 and also connected, as by welding, at a hole 43, shown in dotted lines in FIG. 5, to an annular ring 44. The lower edge of ring 44 may be attached, as by welding or brazing, to flange 38 outwardly of orifices 37, while the upper, inner edge of ring 44 may be attached, as by welding or brazing, to the outside of nozzle 32, to provide a chamber for supplying to orifices 37 the steam which is supplied to the chamber by branch pipes 40 and 41. As will be evident, the spray device may be constructed in any other suitable manner to provide a central subdividing jet and the preferable surrounding ring of velocity jets. For instance, the nozzle 32 may be made integrally with the steam pipe 30; also, partition 33 may be formed separately and welded to the inside of nozzle 32.

The novel spray device of this invention insures that a binder will be more readily and more uniformly distributed in the fibers. The use of a steam jet to subdivide the liquid binder and surrounding jets to provide additional velocity, insures that a mist or the like for more uniform application to the fibers, will have sufiicient velocity to penetrate the stream of fibers. The jets surrounding the binder further provide a ring or anulus protecting the mist or subdivided droplets of binder resin, i.e. protecting them against the environmental temperatures and heat adjacent the point of introduction into the fiber stream. Thus, the mist of binder resins is protected against volatilization and is able to penetrate and to be more uniformly distributed on the fibers of the fiber stream.

Although a preferred embodiment of this invention has been illustrated and described, it will be evident that other embodiments may exist and that other changes may be made, all without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

What is claimed is:

1. A method of spraying a binder and the like into a stream of fibers, produced by a head rotating about its axis for receiving molten mineral material and discharging material laterally of its axis by centrifugal force and means for blowing said fibers in the direction of said axis, said binder being sprayed from at least two points located generally equidistant with respect to the periphery of and adjacent to said head and blowing means, said sprayed binder being subjected to the environmental heat conditions produced by said molten material, said method comprising:

producing a central jet of gaseous fluid at each of said spaced points and toward said fiber stream;

supplying said binder and the like in liquid form to a position for impingement thereon by said central jet, to produce a stream of finely divided particles of said liquid; and

directing an outer annulus of gaseous fluid surrounding and generally coaxial with said central jet, for protecting said stream of finely divided particles from the effect of environmental heat, as well as enhancing the ability of said stream of finely divided particles to penetrate said stream of fibers.

2. In combination with means for producing inorganic, mineral fibers from molten material, including means for directing a gaseous fluid against subdivided molten material and forming a stream of fibers, a device for spraying a liquid binder and the like into said stream of fibers, said device comprising:

means for producing a central jet of gaseous fluid directed axially of said device and toward said fiber stream;

means for supplying said binder and the like in liquid form to a position for impingement thereon by said central jet to produce a stream of finely divided particles of said liquid; and

means for directing an outer annulus of gaseous fluid surrounding and generally coaxial with said central jet, for protecting said stream of finely divided particles from the effect of environmental heat, as well as enhancing the ability of said stream of finely divided particles to penetrate said stream of fibers.

3. In the combination of claim 2 wherein:

a nozzle produces said central jet of gaseous fluid;

said means for supplying said binder and the like in liquid form to a position for impingement thereon by said central jet includes a tube extending generally includes:

a central conduit having one end provided with means for connection to a source of said gaseous fluid;

a central nozzle attached axially to the opposite end of said central conduit;

a pair of branch conduits connected to said central conduit and diverging laterally therefrom on opposite sides thereof and then converging toward each other;

an outwardly flaring nozzle extending axially from said central nozzle;

a pipe having its outer end provided with means for connection to a source of said liquid and extending through said flaring nozzle to a position longitudinally adjacent said central nozzle, the inner end of said pipe being concavely arcuate in the axial direction of said central nozzle; and

a ring surrounding the end of said flaring nozzle and providing an annular space for said fluid, said branch conduits communicating with said space and said ring having a plurality of circumferentially spaced holes for discharging jets of said gaseous fluid in substantially the axial direction of said central nozzle.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,194,827 8/1916 Edgerton 239422 2,624,624 1/1953 Kirschbaum 239422 2,707,847 5/ 1955 Anliker 65-11 3,347,648 10/ 1967 Krakauer et a1. 65-6 S. LEON BASHORE, Primary Examiner 45 R. L. LINDSAY, IR., Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 

